


Cold Shoulder

by HexalianRebel_FeatheredPanda



Series: Rough Crows Have Soft Feathers [3]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gen, Rough Crows Have Soft Feathers, Tickle Fights, Tickling, Tsukishima Kei & Yamaguchi Tadashi Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-05-29
Packaged: 2020-03-26 18:22:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19011319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HexalianRebel_FeatheredPanda/pseuds/HexalianRebel_FeatheredPanda
Summary: *Originally written for Christmas 2016 (Squealing Santa)





	Cold Shoulder

I wonder how I can put this without him getting mad at me…

Heh. I’m kidding; I’m used to him pouting at me.

“How would I describe Tsukishima?” You ask?

Well, I guess I’d have to say he’s like a brand new pair of hiking boots. You kind of have to break him in before you get any comfort out of him.

Yeah… Yeah, he definitely won’t like that one.

Well, whatever. That’s not what you’re here for.

I’ve got another story for you; a shorter one, I promise.

It was a last year, actually: probably the beginning of December; it was the first snow of the season, and it had come in with a vengeance. We were still in middle school at the time, and even though we hung out for a good couple of years, I don’t think Tsukki really liked me yet. Sometimes I think he still doesn’t like me; he’s hard to read sometimes.

I had been spending the weekend at Kei’s house when the blizzard had struck in the night, so that Saturday morning, I properly embarrassed myself.

My eyes had lit up like neon when I saw the snow drifting down outside, and I sat up in my sleeping bag, springing up off the floor to stand on the foot of Kei’s bed in order to see out the window. I bounced on the balls of my feet, giggling goofily and starting to jump on Kei’s bed like, well, like an idiot, if I may be so blunt.

“Kei-san!” Yeah, I hadn’t even started calling him Tsukki just yet. Not as often, anyway. “Kei, c’mon, wake up; it’s snowing!”

He groaned and curled up a bit tighter, mumbling that I should be quiet. I dropped to my knees beside him, giggling lightly and moving to gently shake his shoulder. “Aw, come on, look!” I admit that I probably looked ridiculous, or maybe just like Hinata whenever he gets all excited about something. I hopped back up to look out the window again. Winter had always been my favorite season, and I couldn’t help being excited, even if I did look like a dork.

“Ugh, how can you be so excited…?” I cringed at just the tone of his voice. I turned to see him looking at me in borderline disgust, and I sank down a bit pathetically to my knees on his bed.

“S-Sorry…” I murmured.

He rolled his eyes. “A snowstorm means we have to shovel the walkway…”

“I thought your brother handled that.”

“Why would you think—”

“Well, he came in a couple hours ago, looking pretty cold. You didn’t hear him drop the snow shovel?”

He huffed softly, stretching and flopping back onto his pillow. “Fine then…”

“You’re not going to get up?” I asked, sitting on the edge of the bed beside him.

“Why should I?” he mumbled, glancing at me and then the clock. “It’s too early…”

“We‘ll get to go out into the snow before your mom wakes up!”

“And why would I want to do that?”

“Aw, c’mon, Tsukki! Have some fun! Be cool for once!”

He opened his eyes, glaring pointedly at me. “Oh, suddenly I’m uncool now?” he huffed, playing off the faint blush on his cheeks with an angry tone. “Says the brat who was bouncing on my bed over a little snowfall. Whatever though, we’ll go out to the yard for a while, but if we get sick, you are in for it.” He jabbed at my ribs with one finger as he threatened me, and I bit the inside of my lip, trying not to smile. I knew that’d get him.

Within a few minutes, we were out in Tsukki’s backyard, coats and everything on over our pajamas. I pretended not to notice the way he paused to marvel a bit at the way the snow blanketed everything so perfectly, but I still gave him a couple minutes to stare before I gracefully ruined it by running off the porch and slipping almost immediately.

“Hey, be careful!” he snapped at me, returning to normal as I shook my head and brushed snow off my nose. It had definitely been quite a storm; even with the impact I’d made, I didn’t see or feel the ground under the snow.

“I’m fine, Kei; come on!” I called, turning over to make a snow angel. I admit that I was being a real dork; I did love the way it felt just to lie in snow, with cold trying to bite through the gloves and all the layers of clothes I’d normally have on. I looked up to see Tsukishima standing over me looking somewhat less than amused. He turned with a scoffing chuckle as he stepped away, calling me a goofball under his breath. I sat up, getting back to my feet and looking over at him.

“So…” I called, kneeling to run my hands through the snow at my feet. “You think you’re too cool to have fun with me?”

“No, I didn’t say that. I do think I’m too cool to play in the snow though.” He chuckled. “We aren’t little kids anymore—!!” He flinched sharply as the snowball I’d thrown hit the back of his head and nestled perfectly in his hood, likely against the back of his neck. He turned to me, and with the clouds blocking the sun, I could see the piercing glare he was giving me behind his glasses.

“Oh, is that the game you want to play?” He asked as he stalked toward me. He leaned and picked up a handful of snow, not even taking the time to pack it into a ball before he threw it. While his throw got caught in the wind, I was able to nail him in the chest with another shot. I laughed brightly, and he actually smiled as he lunged at me. I yelped and started running, which wasn’t exactly much help since the Tsukishimas’ yard is kind of small.

“Don’t think I’m going to go easy on you if you fall again!” he shouted at me. I swear he jinxed me on purpose, because I tripped over my own feet almost at the same time, landing in another deep pile of snow. Tsukki stood over me with an almost devious smirk, dropping to the ground with his knees on either side of my legs. He sat on my knees, crossing his arms and leaning over me.

“Now then, what shall we do with you, Tadashi?” he asked teasingly, already picking up some snow to compact in his hands while I looked up at him and giggled. He was saying some stuff, probably trying to intimidate me—I get the feeling it was something his brother had done to him at some point—But I was unfazed, chuckling happily and keeping eye contact with him so he wouldn’t notice my hands. I acted as if I was trying to push him off of me, and he actually seemed pretty happy to paw at my attacking hand. My other hand, however, the glove still freezing cold from the snow, sneaked its way under his coat and his shirt to tickle his stomach.

Now, okay, given that I had no idea whether or not Tsukki was ticklish before then, I was risking quite a lot with that move. Excluding the fact that my hands were freezing cold, if he thought I was childish before, this would be the tipping point, especially if it didn’t work.

So, I guess I’m pretty lucky.

Kei immediately recoiled, letting out a screech at the cold before giggling and understandably hitting me in the face with the snow he’d picked up. I got a second to wipe snow out of my eyes before my hands were pinned into the snow.

“You little brat!” Tsukki said with an accusing tone, a smile stuck on his face whether he knew it or not.

I just blew my hair out of my face, squirming as the snow started to seep into my coat. “I still got you though.” I smirked, squeaking nervously when he glared down at me.

“Yes, I suppose you did.” He huffed. “Which means I’ll just have to do this!” He punctuated the sentence by digging both of his freezing cold hands under my coat to tickle my sides. I squealed and flailed; he had barely touched me, and he was already too close to my weak spot.

“Quit screaming!” He commanded in a sort of whisper just to taunt me. “It’s still early, Tadashi~” He must have been reading my mind; he adjusted his hands just a bit and pressed his thumbs into the bends of my hips. I screeched into my scarf before flailing my hands in the snow.

“Okay; okay; okay!!” I cried out. “You win, Tsukki!”

“Oh, really?” he chuckled, adjusting his glasses. “Just one more thing then.” He climbed off of me, and I stood up.

Believe it or not, I was dumb enough not to anticipate him walking up behind me, and I yelped loudly when a pretty big handful of snow was shoved down the back of my shirt. He slapped me hard on the back, actually laughing as he walked back into the house. I cringed and shuddered, shivering as I walked back into the house.

As I took off my boots and went to hang up my coat, I heard Kei snickering behind me. I turned to him, pretty embarrassed, but still smiling either way. He wore his normal smug expression as he presented me with a gift bag.

“Your back’s all wet.” He grinned, pushing the bag into my hands and patting my back again; I flinched as the lingering snow pressed against my skin. “And you’re still dripping everywhere. Take this and go change before you leave a trail all over the house.”

Thoroughly considering the consequences of wandering around the Tsukishimas’ house in a dripping wet nightshirt, I decided I might as well just go, but Tsukki stopped me before I could walk past the bathroom.

“I said ‘go change’, you little punk.” He insisted, shoving me into the bathroom and closing the door for me.

I called to him: “H-Hey, what am I supposed to–?!”  

“Just…” He suddenly sounded different; the bite in his tone disappeared for the moment.  “Just check the bag, okay?” And then he was gone.

So, of course, I checked in the bag, and well… I guess I was probably grinning like a fool.

I stepped out of the bathroom in a new, thicker nightshirt with a sleeping bear cub surrounded by a bed and bumblebee pillows covered in claw marks on it. The pants that came with it were printed with paw prints, honey jars, and clawed pillows. I had a blanket slung over my shoulder, and it was printed a hundred times over with the same bumblebees. I saw Kei down the hall, pushing the sponge mop back into the small closet; he blinked when he saw me, seemingly unwilling to make eye contact as he picked up a laundry basket with his old pajamas in it. I hadn’t even noticed that he had changed too.

“Hand them over.” He said curtly, holding the basket out for me to set my own wet pajamas in.

I couldn’t help beaming at him. “Thanks so much, Tsukki!”

He rolled his eyes as if he wasn’t blushing a little. “Ah, stop…” He murmured, carrying the basket toward the laundry room. “I just saw it the other day. I had a feeling you liked soft things like that. Um…” I heard the dryer start as he began to say something else; I think he was hoping I wouldn’t hear him say “Sorry it’s so late,” but I didn’t prod him about it.

When he came out, he walked right by me to go into the kitchen. “Hurry up.” He called when I didn’t follow. “Before this gets cold too.” He held a mug of hot chocolate out to me, going to sit at the table. I moved a chair to sit beside him, and he blinked, giving another slight roll of his eyes.

“I didn’t know you could be so sweet.” I teased him, sipping the hot chocolate.

“Shut up.” He huffed, taking his own sips and setting his mug down. “That’s just what, um… what friends do, y’know?”

“Oh, so we are friends?”

“With all that snark you’re throwing out, I’m starting to doubt it.” The look on his face was back to smug and mocking.

“Oh, look who’s talking!” I joked, making sure he wasn’t too close to the mug before I tickled his sides again. He instantly grabbed at my hands, laughing and trying to squirm away. The tables turned pretty quickly though, and he went straight for my hips again, the jerk.

We actually managed to wake up Akiteru, who, in my honest opinion, probably wasn’t sleeping at the time anyway.

“What are you two doing making all that noise?!” He scolded us.

I giggled up at him from the fingers still tracing my hips, and even Tsukki wasn’t giving him the usual scowl he had reserved for him. Akiteru rested one hand on his hip, a slight smirk on his face as he chuckled.

“Ah, that’s the game, is it?” He smiled, the air in the room suddenly feeling electrified as he practically stalked toward us. “You two are so cute. But let’s see how you handle a professional.”

“Run; run!” Kei insisted, to my surprise, as he was suddenly out of his chair and halfway across the room.

And guess who that left as his brother’s first victim. But don’t you dare tell Tsukki I told you any of this. I wouldn’t live to see the next session, got it?

**Author's Note:**

> *Originally written for Christmas 2016 (Squealing Santa)


End file.
